Egyptian Nights
by Princess Cayleann
Summary: Ginny and Bill return to the pyramids of Egypt to discover what is happening with the Great Pyramids. Unexpectedly, Ginny is forced to work with someone she never thought she would have to be with ever again...


Egyptian Nights

Disclaimer: Harry Potter never has and never will belong to me…Enjoy.

It began as a sweltering hot day in the outskirts of Cairo, where the three giant pyramids stood like mountains over Ginny Weasley. Gringotts had assigned the brother and sister team to another curse breaking adventure. The pair had worked on every case together but one and that one—Ginny's disastrous trip to Peru—was never to be mentioned.

She looked on in excitement as they arrived at the pyramids of ancient times and began their preliminary inspection of the magic surrounding the last wonder of the ancient world. Recently, the goblins of Gringotts had gotten reports from the Egyptian Ministry of Magic about renewed magical activity. Either there were new curses being placed on this treasure trove or old ones have been activated where previously the spells rested untouched guarding some ancient Pharaoh's tomb.

"Oh the joys of returning to Egypt," she said as she looked over to Bill, who was inspecting the magical signature surrounding the closest pyramid. "I've wanted to come back ever since we came back before second year started." Ginny, following in the footsteps of Bill, became one of Gringotts Bank's best curse breakers. It didn't hurt matters that she had Bill to teach her the tricks before she ever went for the practical part of the job interview. Now, in her own right, she was one of the best Gringotts employed.

"Do you think there will be anything major happening in these? I feel like with them being such muggle tourist traps, all the good spells will already have been found and taken care of to ensure that the Egyptian government is making as much profit as possible. "At that point the inspection alarms for high magic content began to vibrate up Bill's wand, warning him that something big was working around at least this pyramid, and mostly likely the other two as well.

"Well, honestly Gin, I don't know the true state of affairs because when I was here a few years ago, we were only working with minor pyramids, not these. These were supposed to already be free and clear, but the Egyptian Ministry of Magic has been detecting new activity all around here. At least the report I read led the goblins to wonder about a new treasure find." The proof the goblins were wanting had just come about with the detection she had just witnessed with Bill's spell. "With the Goblins' investments in any treasure to be located out here, they of course want the matter resolved immediately. They've even sent in another curse breaker, apparently thinking that you and I can't handle all of it. He's supposed to arrive tomorrow and we are supposed to go elbow deep in it as soon as he's here."

"So who's the lucky bloke coming to help out the dream team?"

"I'm not sure, Gin," he replied but as soon as his eyes cut away from her, she knew he was lying. Why would he keep the other curse breaker's identity secret from her unless…"Bill, it's not _him_ is it? The goblins know that I refuse to work with him _on anything._ Our last assignment ended in disaster, not to mention that the rumored treasure was never recovered. What are the goblins thinking?"

"Now, Ginny, you know that Malfoy is an excellent curse breaker and the bank wants the best of the best to get this pyramid work out of the way and whatever artifacts possible up in bank vaults." Ginny's eyes rolled at the thought of Malfoy being considered great by the goblins." "Maybe you should show how much you've grown by getting along with the man. It has been four years since you were in school with him."

"But Bill…"she whined with a pleading look on her face. She knew he was right but still she didn't want to face the arrival of such an awful jerk. Rangor, her supervisor, was sure to know how she felt and instigated this in order to frustrate the girl even more.

"No Ginevra," he said with a stern look on his face. "You will just have to get along with him." Ginny wiped the sweat from her forehead and resigned herself to weeks and possibly months of pure torture with the worst git imaginable. And what was Harry going to say when he found out that his girlfriend was working in close connection with the man he still hated with passion, no matter what had occurred during the war.

"Well this is going to be a fun trip…" With that, she and Bill recorded what information they could and returned to the air conditioned hotel suite they were occupying in downtown Cairo. The sinking sun began cooling the desert heat and Ginny tried to relax with the cool breeze before Malfoy arrived in the morning.

****

Late the next morning Bill went out to the local portkey arrival point to meet Malfoy and bring him to the hotel to get settled before the three curse breakers left for some long hours of detection and reduction practices on whatever magic was surrounding the pyramids at Giza. The day was beginning just as the one before it with sweltering sunlight burning even the sand in this endless desert. Ginny stayed behind for two reasons. One, Bill thought that there would be enough time for the two to start their constant bickering and fighting once they were at the pyramids and working and two; Ginny was researching the past magical history of the pyramids trying to detect what might be in store for the three. Forewarned is forearmed as the goblins were always saying as they sent their curse breakers off with full arsenals for packing a magic punch to return anything worth value to the greedy owners of Gringotts.

In the _Magical History of Egypt's Great Lost World_, a book Hermione had lent the pair, it detailed the torrid past of the great pyramids and the leaders of the ancient world lain to rest deep inside. Ginny tried to understand all the layers of curses and spells that the Pharaoh's magicians had put into one tomb but the shear amount left her astounded. They layered the sarcophagus with no less than twelve layers of protection charms, followed by anti-thievery and mind numbing, surely death inducing curses. Over these the room was spelled with even more protection, many times more curses, forgetfulness charms and even in one area leading up to the tomb, a death trap of spells to catch grave robbers.

With all these spells, it amazed Ginny that even still, men and women were able to access the tombs and steal from the recently departed ruler of the world. 'Obviously there was no respect for the tomb in which these men were buried.' She was sure that these tombs had once been worked over by curse breakers well before her time and she even remembered seeing once in a Gringotts vault some of the treasure she was now reading. The contents of the Pharaoh Khufu's tomb were itemized and Ginny was sure that at least three pieces she was reading about were some where miles under London in a vault held by the goblins. 'What greedy goblins I work for. Oh wait, I already knew that.' Ginny realized that no matter what job she was doing for those small creatures, there was nothing that mattered more than what treasure could be found. After her fiasco with Malfoy in Peru, even though she was a top curse breaker and quite reckless with what she was willing to do to beat the curses, she was still heavily reprimanded. If this job wasn't a test of her ability to work with the spineless jerk of a human being then she would eat Neville's grandmother's hat. Everything was on the line with this job.

She continued reading to try and discover whether or not there was some hidden chamber that could have been unknown to all the curse breakers who had been through these pyramids. After reading this book Ginny was sure that the magic they had felt at the pyramids yesterday came from some unknown room previously undiscovered. As she wrote her notes, she began muttering to herself about all she had read.

"What if the magic we felt yesterday was a trigger magic? What if something had to happen before the Pharaoh's magicians' magic could be detected or even affect the people who entered the chamber? And what could have activated them? I know that muggles and curse breakers alike have scoured the first pyramid, the 'great' pyramid but what if there were hidden rooms in the smaller pyramid. What if there were places no one even thought to look. Think of the treasure that could still be in these rooms. Something lying untouched for centuries."

Bill returned with Malfoy and Ginny couldn't wait to share what she may have discovered about the other pyramids. As she ran into the living room of the hotel, Bill set down two of Draco's four cases, with a line of sweat running down his back.

"Oy, Gin. It's a hot one today. That sun is blazing overhead. What did you find in the research? Anything good for us to understand why we're back here?"

"You won't believe what I think I've found from this book Hermione lent us. So you—."

"Weasley, can we not at least get through the door before you start shooting out all the information. I would like to change and sit before we start this whole business." And with that Draco Malfoy entered the suite ready to do battle with the youngest Weasley child.

"Malfoy, I was trying to make forward progress with our work. Since you finally decided to grace us with your presence, maybe we can actually get done before Christmas arrives." While Ginny was berating him, Malfoy set down the rest of his luggage and moved to the lounger to take a seat. "Do you think you could maybe grab your files, _Malfoy_, so we might get started sometime _today_?"

"I need a minute, Weasley, before you bombard me with your nonsense to adjust to my new climate. Why don't you step outside and bore some poor Egyptian bloke for a bit instead of working my ear off about your issues."

Ginny stared at the man, dumbfounded about his attitude when she was sure his career was just as much on the line with this test of an assignment as she was. How dare he try to jerk her chain. The threesome needed to get to work so as soon as they figured out what was happening in the pyramids, she could get the hell out of Egypt and far away from Malfoy. The idea of spending weeks with him just made her skin crawl.

"Ginny. Draco. Seriously, get it together. We all know that neither can have another assignment like Peru so get it together and do your jobs. Outside of what we discover here, I have to make a report on your jobs." Draco listened to this with no expression while Ginny stared at her brother with something akin to abject horror.

"But, Bill, they wouldn't split us up would they. They can't, you're my brother."

"Gin, just do your job and get it done. No worries then, okay. And, Draco, shape up. Now."

With that Bill left the room to get ready for the afternoon and Ginny, still stunned by what might come from this job, went to write her preliminary report to Rangor. She was absolutely going to follow every protocol so her supervisor wouldn't feel the need to come check on their progress. She stared out the window as her Quick Quotes Quill wrote her findings. The view of the city spread before her in such Middle Eastern beauty unrivaled anywhere else.

She heard Draco move to his room behind her and began the arduous task of dictating all her research to match her book's findings.

"Through the knowledge of former explorers and curse breakers to these pyramids, I have found evidence of a possible hidden tomb in two of the three pyramids of Giza. Though they have all been explored and robbed over many centuries, the latent magic of the Pharaoh's men may have hidden the rooms encased in limestone blocks well below any level previously discovered in the pyramids."

Bill, walking back through happened to overhear what his sister may have discovered.

"Gin, are you serious. We may be breaking two thousand year old curses? Is there a true chance of what you have discovered."

Ginny waved her wand to stop the quill from recording and turned to Bill.

"Oh yes, Bill! This is what I was trying to tell you when Malfoy interrupted with his grand entrance. It's what we've been waiting to discover! Only one pyramid is known to have at least two levels. From what I've inferred, though the one is larger than the other two, all indications lead me to believe they were all built in the same manner. I think that with deflection charms in place, these rooms may have stayed hidden until now. Think of what could still be inside an untouched chamber in one of the ancient pyramids."

Bill and Ginny grinned at each other at the thought of all the possibilities. They could make the greatest find of the decade and would have all the glory."Don't get your hopes up, Weasley. Any glory in this will be split with me. All that replenishing the good name of Malfoy and what rot." Ginny groaned, for a few precious minutes having forgotten about the man she was forced to work with, and turned to face him.

She just knew that this was going to be a long trip. And little does she know…

To be continued…

Author's note: They have no idea what's in store for them next…

Comments and advice sincerely welcome. Happy reading!


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